dancing in a snowglobe round and round
by serenadreams
Summary: Oliver says I love you in a million different ways. Established relationship.
1. Oliver

_**Inspired by this tumblr post **_

post/74026929384/theres-like-a-million-different-ways-to-say-i

_**this is by far the fluffiest, most tooth rotting thing i have ever written. i blame taylor swift and stephen amell equally.**_

* * *

_You kiss on sidewalks_

_You fight and you talk_

_One night he wakes_

_Strange look on his face _

_Pauses and says_

_You're my best friend_

_And you knew what it was_

_He is in love_

Oliver says _I love you_ in a million different ways every single day. He says it without words, and with words that were designed to hold an entirely different meaning. He says _I love you_ with every breath he takes and every beat of his heart.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the Epi pen he keeps in his jacket pocket. They've never had to use it, and she rolls her eyes at him for being overprotective, overcautious. But he never stops carrying it. And three years down the line, when she feels her heart still for a second because her throat is swelling up and _oh God she knows that feeling, _she's never been more grateful for his caution.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with his new rule of never ending a day without kissing her at least once. Ever practical, she says it's not going to be possible; eventually one of them will have to be out of town or otherwise indisposed, and their little tradition will be put to bed. But that hasn't happened yet.

There was one close call, when he almost didn't make it home in time and he woke her up at 11:50, tiredness evident in his eyes, and a little out of breath from trying to get to her before midnight. He'd kissed her sweetly, and even in her half asleep state, she'd automatically responded, before cracking some joke about her being Cinderella and _will you still want to kiss me if I turn into a pumpkin, Oliver? _(He'd assured her that he'd still want to kiss her if she turned into an _ogre_.)

Of course, most days they kiss a lot more than once. Most days they do a lot more than kiss. But sometimes life gets in the way and interrupts those precious moments, when nothing matters but each other. And in those times, it's a nice promise to hold onto, that however bad her day is going, she'll get to kiss Oliver before it ends.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with a mean right hook and a man on the floor with a bleeding nose. And when she insists that _I could've handled it, Oliver. He was just a drunk creep. _He smiles and says that of course he knows she didn't need her help but "I didn't want you to hurt your hand on his face."

* * *

He says _I love you _with the step he takes in front of her whenever he feels threatened. Whenever someone strange approaches her and his hackles rise, he puts himself between her and the threat. She thinks she's probably the safest person in the city when that happens. Secure behind an impenetrable human wall. And when he wakes at night, from a bad dream or a sound he's _sure_ he heard, his first instinct is always to cover her. Where before it might've been to attack, now it's to protect.

* * *

He says _I love yo_u with the extra helmet he always keeps on his bike, just for her. It's smaller than his, and the safest one money can buy. At first it was just another precaution in the event of an emergency, but as time passes, it becomes something she actually uses on a regular basis.

She loves sitting behind him on the Ducati, arms wrapped around his waist, fingers curling into cool leather, the wind rushing through her hair.

It's not as much fun when they're attempting to escape persistent enemies in blacked out cars with guns hanging precariously from the windows. It's not as much fun when bullets whiz past their bodies, and she has to press her face into the center of his back and close her eyes to keep herself calm.

But on the good days, the days when it's just him and her and no threats to their lives or hearts, _that's_ when it's fun. When the air is exhilarating and the freedom makes her heart soar.

She's never scared when she rides with him. She trusts him implicitly, and knows that he'd never let her get hurt with him right there. He never goes too fast, and never takes corners too sharply, his hand reaches back to steady her from time to time, even when she doesn't need it, and he always double checks her helmet before letting her climb on behind him.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the fact that he spends every Sunday night in front of a movie of her choosing, with her feet in his lap and a bottle of nail polish in his hand.

It's another little tradition they've managed to create almost without realizing it. One they've both come to cherish. She slowly improves his pop culture knowledge, and he slowly becomes quite adept at painting her toes pink. And it's nice, to have something that's so completely domestic, so simple and _normal_ and unaffected by the other aspects of their lives.

It's warm and it's homely and it's glasses of red wine and slippers with teddy bear ears and home cooked lasagna. It's a type of home life neither of them had growing up. Him with secrets and servants and more money than anyone knew what to do with, and her with a single mother and an empty bank account and a little girl watching out of a window hoping one day her daddy might come home.

Slowly they create the life they always wished they had, together. And although they don't say it out loud, both of them know that when they have their own children, they'll spend every day working to give them everything they missed out on.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the tattoo he gets one day; a thin band of Cyrillic letters that encircle his upper arm. Her name. Well not exactly her name. The Russian translation of the word _felicity_. Because that's what she is for him. Her own namesake. His happiness. His felicity. (_блаженство_, the exact translation is bliss, blessing, _felicity_, all of which describe what she is to him.)

And when she asks why he got it wrapped around his bicep like that, he replies that it's because they're never ending. _She's_ never ending. Eternal. Just like the tattoo.

It's the most romantic thing he's ever said to her. And she kisses the black letters and then kisses him and then spends the rest of the night showing him just how much it means to her.

It becomes something of a _thing_, her kissing that particular tattoo. And because of it's innocent location, she can do it whenever she wants, in public or in the foundry or in yet another death defying situation, and no one will understand the significance except them.

And it becomes a reminder for him. When he's bursting with anger or despair and on the brink of doing something he'll regret, she'll hold his arm and run her thumb along the band of ink. And he'll remember why. Why he does what he does, why he's a hero and not a villain, why he doesn't run off half-cocked and destructive anymore. He'll remember why. Because of her.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the tremor of nerves in his voice, as he holds out a ring and asks her the most important question he'll ever ask.

_"Felicity Megan Smoak, will you marry me?" _

And she's in his arms before she can even answer, pressing kisses to his lips and his nose and his cheeks and his stubbled jaw, because for once, she's speechless.

She finally manages to center her thoughts enough to whisper a soft _yes_ into his skin. And then a ring is slipping onto her finger and tears run down her cheeks because she suddenly feels overwhelmed by how much she wants this.

How much she wants him to be her husband. How much she wants to spend the rest of her life with him never far away. How much she wants to end every day at his side, and start every new one just the same.

She's never wanted anything quite as much as she wants this. And it should scare her. It should bring up questions of codependency and the thought that it's unlikely they'll actually get that forever after. But it doesn't. Because Oliver's kissing her and his ring is on her finger, and his hands are on her skin, and she has everything she needs right there. And she knows he feels the same.

* * *

He says _I love you_ when he kisses that ring time and again and never lets her forget how happy she made him by saying yes.

* * *

He says _I love you_ when he yells at her for putting her life on the line. When she's bleeding in front of him and his shaky hands are patching her up even as he berates her. Because he _told_ her not to go, he told her it was too dangerous, he begged her not to leave the car. And she did and now she's hurt and he's using anger as a coping mechanism to deal with just how scared he was.

So he yells at her and rants about never letting her out in the field again, and buying her a bullet proof car with a remote controlled lock and getting a tracking device put into every pair of shoes she owns, and many more ridiculous ideas that she lets slip by without comment.

He'll calm down eventually. And then he'll kiss her and ask her if she's really alright, and he'll take her home and hold her in his arms like she's the only thing keeping him anchored to the earth.

He yells because he almost lost her and the idea of that doesn't even bear thinking about.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the hand that always gravitates to the small of her back. Protective, supportive, possessive. A thumb brushing subtly over the fabric of her dress, the warmth of his palm seeping through the thin material, calming her whatever the situation. Wherever they are.

He can always do that. Keep her calm. Make her feel safe. Even in the midst of chaos, he's her grounding force, comforting and familiar when the rest of the world is unsure and dangerous.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the smile that he keeps just for her. It's never directed at anybody else, it's hers and hers alone. A part of Oliver Queen that only she gets to see. Well, there are lots of parts of Oliver Queen that only she gets to see, but the _Felicity smile_ is one of her favorites.

He says so much with that smile. He says _I love you_ and I miss you, and you're beautiful and you're adorable, and I wish I could kiss you right now and I wish I could do a lot more than kiss you right now, and I'm proud of you, and I'm happy for you, and I promise I'll never leave you.

He says all that and more, and she always knows exactly what he means, when he catches her eye in a crowded room and smiles her smile. She knows what he's saying, what he wants her to understand.

So she'll smile back, and even though it's not quite the same because she smiles at everyone, she hopes she has an _Oliver smile_.

* * *

He says _I love you_ by making sure their fridge is always stocked with her favorite foods, and her coffee order is just right, and there are no nuts in their takeout.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the fact that he hasn't eaten peanut butter since the day he met her. Even when he's eating without her. And when Thea exclaims in surprise _"Ollie you love peanut butter, what's the matter with you?" _His reply is swift and sure. "I found something I love more."

* * *

He says _I love you_ with a kiss to her cheek and a touch to her elbow, and a thumb brushing along the inside of her wrist.

* * *

He says _I love you_ when he holds her all night even though she's sick and he'll get sick too.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the delighted huff of laughter, pure undulated joy, that bursts from his chest when she nervously whispers that she's pregnant. He says _I love you_ when he holds her hair back every morning and rubs up and down her spine and never once complains. He says _I love you_ with foot massages and concerned eyes and a sudden abundance of flats shoes in her closet. He says _I love you_ with the look of pure confusion on his face when she breaks down crying because _"Oh God I'm so fat and ugly I'm never leaving the house again." _He says _I love you_ with his lips against hers and the promise that she's the most beautiful woman he's ever laid eyes on and he's never been more attracted to her, than when he gets to watch her belly grow with their child inside.

* * *

He says _I love you _when he reminds her to wear her seat belt, and drink enough water and bring a sweater when it might rain.

* * *

He says _I love you _when he kisses her forehead and promises he'll always do everything he can to return home to her.

* * *

He says _I love you_ with the ring on his finger that he never once removes as long as he lives.

* * *

Oliver says _I love you_ in a million different ways every single day. And Felicity spends the rest of her life never wavering in the knowledge that Oliver Queen loves her.

Completely and in every single way imaginable.

_You can hear it in the silence_

_You can feel it on the way home_

_You can see it with the lights out_

_You are in love_

_True love_


	2. Felicity

_**Inspired by a tumblr post.**_

_**Did you really think I wouldn't do a Felicity one too? Actually I honestly didn't think I would. I tend to find Oliver easier to write for some reason. But hey this happened so yeah. Enjoy! Posting now because it seems like the fandom could use some happiness :\**_

_**Song - You R in Love by TS.**_

_**Decided to post both in one place to make things easier.**_

* * *

_Morning, his place_

_Burnt toast, Sunday_

_You keep his shirt_

_And he keeps his word_

_And for once you let go_

_Of your fears and your ghosts_

* * *

Felicity says _I love you_ in a million different ways. She says it with her touch and her warmth, and the fact that she'll follow Oliver to the ends of the earth and back. She says _I love you_ with every breath she takes and every beat of her heart.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with small fingertips and brightly colored nails running absently down his back as they pass in a hallway. Without time to stop and exchange kisses and words, because they're at work and they're _professional._ Instead, settling on a quick upturn of lips and a brush of her delicate hands over his suit jacket. The smile always stays on his face until she's out of sight, when it gradually fades away along with her presence.

* * *

She says_ I love you_ with the press of each bandage to his damaged skin. By some unspoken shift, she'd become the one to hover over him with medical supplies and steady hands in place of Digg. She tells him years later, that she likes to be the one to treat him because it makes her feel a little more in control. In control of fate, of his mortality, of the fact that he _will_ get to see another day. So she dabs at his wounds with antiseptic, and carefully cleans blood away without flinching. And closes his eyes and lets her, because he'd be lying if he said it's not a nice thing to come back to. Injured and in pain, her presence heals more than any medicine ever could.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with a shared gaze across a crowded room. Eyes warm and full of promises of _later_. The affection on her face making his chest tighten because she's the best thing to ever happen to him and he'll never deserve her, and yet she continues to look at him like _that_.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with his name listed as her emergency contact and his number as speed dial one in her phone, and with the fact that he has power of attorney in the event of something happening to her. (She did that without telling him and when he found out they had one of the biggest fights of their lives, because _nothing is going to happen to you Felicity! Damn it, don't even go there!_ She replied that he's the only one she'll ever trust completely with her life, and she just needed to make sure that any decisions would be in his hands alone.)

* * *

She says _I love you_ with his head in her lap as blood stains her pretty dress. Fingers running over his forehead and down his cheeks, caressing his face as whispered words of comfort soothe his soul. He can survive a lot, but a head injury is bad and they both know it. But she doesn't panic or run or scream, she stays with him, protecting him with her small frame as he lies incapable in her arms. Her tears are silent, and he knows she's trying to stay strong for him. To keep him calm, to keep him going. She presses her lips to his face and tells him everything will be alright, and when it's her saying it, he thinks he just might believe it.

* * *

She says _I love you_ by insisting they celebrate his birthday, even though it's something he's barely acknowledged in years. It's a rough time of year for him, with memories of Tommy and loss and _failure _heavy in his mind. But she doesn't let him brush it under the carpet and ignore the milestone. Nor does she throw a huge party or force him into a situation he feels uncomfortable with. She'd never do that. Because she gets him, she knows him. More than anyone else ever has. More than his mother who loved him unconditionally but always wanted him to a be something he wasn't. Or his sister who had spent her whole life disagreeing with him just for the sake of it. No one's ever known him like she does. The good and the bad, the dark and the light. The parts he'd rather keep hidden and the parts he likes to pretend don't exist. She knows all of it, and it doesn't scare her.

She takes him to a hotel a couple of hours out of town for the weekend. Close enough that they can get home quickly in an emergency, but far enough away that they won't go back for anything less. They spend the weekend in peace, surrounded by warmth and laughter. And he eats his birthday cake off her skin and thinks that these will be the first good memories he'll have of this particular day in a very long time.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with the soft press of her lips to the center of his back. She slips into bed beside him, and he feels, in his half awake state, the fan of her breath against his skin and the quiet hum of contentment that escapes her as she burrows into his warmth. Usually he would turn and wrap himself around her, but he's barely awake and his leg is hurting. So when she drapes an arm over his body, bringing her hand to rest against his heart, he matches her murmur of content and lets any residual tension seep out of him. She presses her cheek into his shoulder blade and another whisper of her lips against his skin has a rush of emotion lodging in his throat. He can hear her breathing evening out, automatically syncing to his, and he brings a hand up to hold hers where it rests against his skin. Their fingers link together naturally and her hair tickles his back as she shifts a little, before sighing softly and relaxing against him. Together they drift to sleep and he thinks that the whole world would be healed, if everyone got to end their days like this.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with the bracelet on her wrist that she never takes off. It's a simple gold chain, with an infinity sign between two of the links. He'd seen it in a store window as he'd passed, and bought it for her without pause. It's the first promise of forever that he gives her. Long before a diamond ring and then the gold band that follows. Long before vows in front of friends and tattoos etched into his skin. It's the first. And she doesn't panic, or refuse the gift, because it's probably too soon to know whether or not this is forever, by conventional standards. She lets him clasp it around her slender wrist, lets him make the wordless promise, and returns it with one of her own. Never undoing that clasp again.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with the fact that it takes her all of two seconds to jump to his defense when she hears the idle rich tear apart his character, dressed in formal wear, within the walls of his own company. He feels a pang of guilt, watching her defend his honor, her loud voice making an appearance as she puts three powerful people in their place with only a few words. He feels guilty, because he never did that for her. When she was the victim of nasty rumors and the punch line of every office joke, he never shot them down, he never did _anything_. Sure, it was long before they were together, and if he heard so much as one bad word about her now he'd have a very different reaction. But as he watches her position herself between him and the verbal attack, much as he does between her and a physical threat, he wishes he could go back and do for her what she so naturally does for him.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with her unshakeable faith in him. Whatever he does, however much he fucks up, she's always there with a belief in his character, in his strength, in his heart, in his mind, in his mission. In him. She's always there, telling him he's got this. He can do it. She trusts him. He'll do the right thing. And when he doesn't, when he makes mistakes and disappoints her, somehow that faith doesn't fade. It's still there, full force. Unstoppable. Unending.

And clinging to the side of a building, hand reaching for hers, unable to reach her however far he stretches his arm, fingertips just barely brushing hers, she puts such blind faith in him that his heart stops.

He tells her to _"Jump Felicity. I'll catch you." _And she leaps without hesitation.

He does catch her, of course. Because he always will. But it kills him a little bit, how much she trusts him. He'll never be worthy of that trust. Never be worthy of her jumping across a hundred foot drop and into his arms just because he tells her to. He crushes her against his chest and tries to steady his heart because he's almost angry at her for doing exactly as he asked, even as he's buzzing with emotion for the same reason. It's a confusing jumble of feelings that he doesn't know quite what to do with. So he just presses a kiss into her hair and leads her as far away from the danger as he can.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with every lipstick stain she leaves on his skin. There's a possessive side to her that he never expected, but can't deny has a very pleasant effect on him. He has to wipe the ones on his face away when he heads out into the world, but he often leaves those hidden by his clothes. A smudge of bright pink on his chest, like a little piece of her he gets to keep with him all day. And when he takes his shirt off to workout and sees where it's rubbed off on the material, he feels a rush of affection and want for her that makes him almost dizzy.

* * *

She says _I love you_ when she wakes him from his nightmares and soothes him with her touch and her voice. Not caring that he's sweaty and wrecked. Not caring that his dreams are bloody and angry and she's beautiful and _good_ and shouldn't be sullied by his darkness. She pulls him into her, gives herself over to him until all he knows is _Felicity, Felicity, Felicity. _And whatever dreams he had, drift away because _Felicity, Felicity, Felicity._

* * *

She says _I love you_ with their little tradition as he suits up every night. She'll fit his mask over his eyes, and pull his hood up over his head, letting her fingers brush gently down his cheek and across his jaw. Then she'll stand up on her tiptoes and brush her lips softly against his and whisper _come back_, before stepping away and letting him walk out the door. And when he does come back to her, because he always will, she meets him with a smile and a much longer kiss, a _thank you_ falling from her lips every time.

* * *

She says _I love you_ with the way their lives gradually become one. A shared closet where her dresses hang beside his suits, and their shoes line up in uneven rows. His aftershave on the edge of the sink alongside whichever lipstick she used that morning. Sandalwood soap and vanilla body wash in the shower. Protein powder in the kitchen cupboards even though _God that stuff is gross. _A pink fluffy dressing gown hanging beside a much larger, navy blue one on the back of their bedroom door. His bedside table neat and tidy with only a lamp and his phone, and maybe a weapon hidden in one of the drawers. Hers a mess of hair ties and books and coffee mugs. A DVR filled with _Ellen_ episodes and baseball games. Their keys sharing a bowl by the door, hers on a pretty beaded key-ring, and his on a beautiful little oak plaque with his initials carved into it, that she gave him as a random gift nowhere near any holidays. Their lives fit together with as much ease as as their bodies and hearts.

* * *

She says _I love you_ when she whispers _yes _against his lips. A ring, _his_ ring, slipping onto her finger, making her his forever and giving him a future he never thought he'd get.

* * *

She says _I love you_ on their wedding day when she has to choke back tears as she says her vows. "You're my best friend. The best friend I've ever had. You're the person I want to see when I'm sad, you're the person I call when I'm scared. You're the person I think about when I'm alone, and the person I dream about when I'm asleep. You're my first thought in the morning and my last at night. You're the only one I've ever been able to see a future with. And with you, it's so much more than a future. It's everything. And I want to share every second of it with you." There isn't a dry eye in the house after that, including his.

* * *

She says _I love you_ when she doesn't let him give up. On the world, on their mission, on life, on them. She never lets him give up. She always gives him something to fight for.

* * *

She says _I love you_ when Thea is in trouble and he's busy on a mission so she mutes the comms and goes herself. And when he berates her for being reckless, she says _I love you_ with her heated reply of "Thea's family Oliver. I'd do anything for her."

* * *

She says _I love you_ with a quiet _it was worth it _after thirteen hours of labor, as she watches from her hospital bed as he gazes at the tiny little human in his arms.

* * *

She says _I love you_ every time her head falls to rest against his shoulder.

She says _I love you_ when she opens the door to her house and heart, and welcomes his invasion into every inch of her life.

She says _I love you_ with mornings in their bed wearing nothing but his shirt and a smile.

She says _I love you_ with her steady voice on the comms guiding him in and out of battle and never once faltering.

She says_ I love you_ with a post it note on the fridge telling him to take an umbrella to work because it's going to rain.

She says _I love you_ with a note written on the bathroom mirror in eyeliner.

* * *

Felicity says _I love you_ in a million different ways. And Oliver spends every day of the rest of his life knowing without a doubt, that whether or not he deserves it, Felicity Smoak loves him with everything she has.

* * *

_You can hear it in the silence_

_You can feel it on the way home_

_You can see it with the lights out_

_You are in love_

_True love_


End file.
